Posted on 06/28/2002 6:40:53 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
PORTSMOUTH -- The largest modernization in the Coast Guard's 200-year history is imminent now that a long-awaited $17 billion contract has been awarded, the service's Atlantic Area commander said Wednesday.``I am going to get some return on my investments really quick, which is going to be bad news for the bad guys,'' Vice Adm. James D. Hull said in describing the effect of the 20-year contract with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. ``This contract makes me stand up and smile.''
The ``Deepwater'' project calls for buying up to 91 ships, along with 35 fixed-wing aircraft, 34 helicopters and 76 unmanned aerial vehicles, said Hull, whose command is headquartered in Portsmouth. He oversees all Coast Guard units east of the Rocky Mountains, including those up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
``This will give us maritime dominance offshore as well as inshore,'' Hull said.
Of the $16.95 billion authorized, $5.91 billion will be used for operating, maintenance and ``sustainment'' costs. That means immediate upgrades for six cutters based in Portsmouth, as well as improvement to the fleet of helicopters and other aircraft based in Elizabeth City, Hull said.
The project will include a communication system expected to greatly cut response times by ships and aircraft, plus satellite-fed sensors for surveillance. Forty-nine cutters and 93 helicopters will be upgraded altogether.
One of the more innovative improvements is the acquisition of unmanned aircraft, possibly including ``Eagle Eye,'' a little-known surveillance craft developed by Bell Helicopter Textron. The aircraft employs the same tilt-rotor technology used in the company's better-known V-22 Osprey.
Coast Guard officials said two other Bell aircraft are under consideration: the AB139, a twin-engine helicopter that is under development, and the BA609, a civilian version of the Osprey.
Also being developed is a new National Security Cutter equipped with the latest communications gear and sensors.
Such equipment ``helps in drug interdiction,'' Hull said. ``. . . We want to make sure we keep the bad things, the people and the cargo, out of the United States, and this system should do that.''
The Coast Guard's 12 1960s-era Hamilton-class cutters are among the service's aging fleet slated for replacement under the Deepwater contract. The 378-foot Hamilton-class vessels are the largest multimission, helicopter-capable ships operated by the Coast Guard.
Other ships that would be replaced include 14 210-foot Reliance-class cutters dating back to the '60s and a variety of other ships, some dating back to before World War II.
Aircraft readiness has been increasingly hard to achieve in recent years. Some of the Coast Guard's existing helicopters cannot operate from the flight decks of some older cutters. That would change.
``It's a pretty neat time to be in the Coast Guard,'' said Hull, ``. . . there is so much going on. It is exciting and amazing.''
I'm going smoke a doobie in celebration!!!
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